Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Star mare Wonderful To Fly bounced back to her best form when she unwound a spirited burst to win the $31,000 The Nullarbor The Road To Riches Free-For-All over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Part-owned and trained and driven by Shane Young, Wonderful To Fly was making her fourth appearance after resuming from a spell, and she ended a losing sequence of six to take her record to 68 starts for 32 wins, 18 placings and $821,305 in prizemoney.
Young planned to take advantage of the coveted No. 1 barrier by setting the pace. But Wonderful To Fly, a $13.60 chance, was beaten for early speed by the $3.80 second fancy Aardiebytheseaside, who zoomed out from the No. 3 barrier.
When Sangue Reale ($8) dashed forward from out wide at barrier eight and then was eased on to the pegs to trail the pacemaking Aardiebytheseaside, Wonderful To Fly was shuffled back to three back on the pegs, with the $1.70 favourite Gee Heza Sport in the breeze and Talks Up A Storm well placed in the one-out, one-back position.
The lead time was a fast 36.1sec. and the opening 400m section was covered in a flying 28.3sec. El Chema ($21) raced in eighth position in the field of nine before Maddison Brown sent him forward, three wide, approaching the bell. El Chema sustained his effort and took the lead 450m from home before Aardiebytheseaside regained the lead on the home turn.
Young was able to ease Wonderful To Fly off the pegs with about 250m to travel and the WA-bred six-year-old moved to fourth on the home turn and ran on powerfully to get to the front in the final few strides and beat $31 chance Little Darling by a half neck. Little Darling was last at the bell before flying home.
The event resulted in a triumph for the three mares in the race providing the trifecta after starting from barriers one, two and three.
Young said he was quite happy to abandon his plans of leading, saying: “Aardiebytheseaside had the better of me early, and I wasn’t against sitting with my mare. I didn’t want to go to war early in the race.
“The race turned into a high-pressure affair, and I had a bit of luck at the end. Wonderful To Fly produced her old sprint which was great. She was relaxed tonight and once she got out (off the pegs) and got balanced up, she dug in, and it felt very good to prove that she is still a quality mare.”